Is almost 6 too old to get a New Guinea pig chum?

[Toottootcar]

We've had our pigs for years now, and sadly one has died this week. They were both heading for 6, and are boars.
Is this too old to expect him to adapt to a new companion? I had thought of getting two young ones but they might gang up on him - or an older boat but then they might be set in their ways?
Ive done the bonding process before but the pigs were under a year then so I think easier.
TIA

Its not too old. Your pig could have another 2 years and as highly social creatures its a long time to be in solitary.

Check your local rescues, go for a similar age (so youre not stuck with the same issue again for too long), as they may have older pigs in need of a retirement chum.

Good luck 🙂

I would try one baby boar or a female (if he's neutered.) . An older female might be a good option if you don't want to commit too long term as you would with a baby.
I would watch them very carefully with bonding and make sure he has his own space, food bowls etc.

Thank you both.
I've found a rescue online and will have a look. The problem is if they don't get on and I have already brought new-pig home... I asked a rescue once before and they said they didn't do any bonding visits or anything, you just had to take the chance!

How does he seem on his own?

I know they're supposed to be with another but I am in a similar situation with my 4 year old female and I have been in touch with local rescues, posted in the Guinea Pig Forum and asked around locally and can't get a rescue pig for love nor money.

I can't get a younger one either because as much as I love my girl, she's a bit of an angry twat and bullied her 2 sisters (both passed, one last year and the other a month ago) to the point that I separated them at one point as she kept biting them!

Weirdly though, she seems really happy on her own. I did try to spend more time with her initially but she hates being picked up (typical that the other two were really lovley and cuddly). I think maybe she just prefers her own company. She lives in our busy back garden next to our rabbit, so she sees lots every day,has a run as well as her hutch.

I don't know what to do for her best!

We added 3 baby brothers to our last remaining boar. They were lovely together and made senior’s last months very happy.
one of the brothers became too dominant so we separated him off for quite a while ( tho in CC cages so they could see and sniff each other still). All 3 back together now . Good luck. I love guineas!

Thank you for all the perspectives - very interesting you could add three young ones in! How he seems - I think he seems sad, but I may be projecting onto him. He hasn't gone into the house that his friend always slept in. I need to clean the scent away at some point but it seemed too soon?

Rescues should allow you to return a pig if it's a failed bond. Otherwise there's now two pigs without a mate and the rescue should be thinking of the best interests of the animals, as you are. (I volunteer in rescue and we always do this, we don't want solitary animals).

I don't think you're projecting onto him at all, he will be genuinely lonely and depressed, like any social animal.

The RSPCA do bonding if they have a suitable pig available, although it depends if they have someone available (and I didn't have a very good experience with this service either but obviously that's just my experience.)
A good rescue should allow you to return a pig if bonding fails. I know a great Guinea pig lady in Leicestershire if that's local to you.

Thank you both, I'm in Scotland so not very local unfortunately! I can't remember which adoption group I spoke to in the past, the SSPCA I think, they definitely didn't offer anything special if you were trying to adopt a pig to live with your own.
I would prefer younger pigs so as not to go through this again all too soon. And two, for the same reason. Obviously won't if that's not going to work. I could separate them if I had to, though I wonder if seeing new upstarts living beside him would annoy my current gentleman more than it would please him!

I don’t think it fits your situation op as you said you’d maybe look at younger piggies but in case it helps anyone else, when we got down to our final piggie our dilemma was that we didn’t want her to be alone given how social they are but we also didn’t want to go on owning piggies for ever (which might happen if we kept getting another for company, potentially endlessly!). We were really lucky that a great small animal (rabbits & piggies mostly) rescue allowed us to foster a pig who was also an ‘only’ until such time as we lost our original, at which point we returned her to them. We were so grateful, made a good donation and presumably our little foster piggie got a good permanent home then 😊

@blueskiesrule thats a brilliant way to do it because that's where I'm at, this is maybe 10 years of piggy ownership and as much as I love the little things it is time to stop the heartbreak!

I will approach some local charities with a view to fostering.

Our local GP rescue does GP dating where they'll fix you up with a suitable GP of a similar age to see if they get on